Ten years after terminal diagnosis; A Triathlon

I have never been a good swimmer. I went into the pool, after 125M my shoulders were on fire and I was breathing heavy.

During 2018 and 2019, old habits started to creep back into my life. When I was first diagnosed I 2011, I changed my lifestyle as recommended by David Servan Schreiber in his excellent book “Anti Cancer” Having been told in 2017 that cancer was no longer visible on my CT scan, I began focusing on cannabis oil, which I began to consume in 2014, having decided I did not want to continue with chemotherapy as my consultant was not offering a cure, just 22 months of life and the side effects were ruining the quality of that life, that was all I had to loose by trying something else.

The central nervous system and immune system has receptors for molecules of cannabis, called the “endocanabinoid system” Cannabis relaxes the body, you sleep great and many (including myself believe it has anti tumoral characteristics. Now I take a small amount three nights each week because I “BELIEVE” cannabis high in THC, stopped the cancer cells that were in my blood proliferating and forming tumours in other organs. The down side is you feel lethargic the following day and it gives you the munchies. I had started eating cereals and bread again (carbohydrates) and my weight had creeped up to 89 kilos. I was in good company, 69% of British men are either obese or overweight (59% of women) . While I played walking football every week, I was not doing cardiovascular exercise like running or cycling, and was headed back to the lifestyle I “BELIEVE” caused me to develop cancer in the noughties.

In the summer of 2019 my friend and tennis coach Jeremy Woods died from cancer. Jeremy was always pushing me to improve my tennis game beyond my ability and he would have been amused that his passing gave me the kick in the ass to get my lifestyle and heath and fitness back on track. I started going to the gym three times a week, but then the Corona virus came to the UK, the government panicked and in March 2020 the country locked down and I could not use the gym. The government knew there was an obesity problem in UK and these people were very vulnerable to corona virus, so they allowed people to go out to exercise once a day. What the public should have learned from Partygate is; those who have had a private school education tend to have the view that rules are for those that chose to obey them I started running and cycling every day. Then when the gym opened again you could not use the changing rooms, which greatly reduced the amount of time needed for going to the gym, However the smell of hand sanitizer everywhere, as some people tried to protect themselves putting this stuff everywhere, while I am thinking breathing these chemicals all the time must be carcinogenic. I started going late in the evening had the gym all to myself, was in and out in 40 minutes and started going most days.

By 2022 I was fitter than I had been in 30 years and thought of setting myself a fitness challenge for 2023 as it was 10 years since having the terminal diagnosis. I decided I would do the Marathon on the Great Wall again. Ole was up for it again, so I contacted Steen at Albatross Travel. He informed they could not risk going at this time, as the Chinese could lock everything down and we could get stuck in Beijing indefinitely. Ole has been doing Iron man Triathlons for the last ten years and it had been my intention to do one after the marathon in 2013, but the terminal diagnosis meant I was focusing on doing things with the children before I died and did not want to devote the time to training. I thought it would be fun to try. Running and swimming would not be a problem, but I have never been a good swimmer. I went into the pool, after 125M my shoulders were on fire and I was breathing heavy. Made no sense to me as I was very fit at this point and had been working with weights to build up my upper body strength. An Ironman was definitely out but perhaps I could do an Olympic distance triathlon as the swim was only 1,500 M

In September 2022 I booked a swimming lesson with Kathy at my Gym and she pointed out a number of faults in my technique and head position in the water. By December I was able to 500M and by the summer, I was swimming 1000M in 30 minutes and I signed up for the Dorney Lake Triathlon. In September 2023 I bought ( I was committing) a carbon fibre race bike, I had never worn a helmet on a bike in my life, but its a requirement for competition so had to buy one as well. Spent a few days building my confidence cycling with clip in shoes.

First day out on the bike, wearing my helmet, I am taking it easy by Hampton Court Palace. Ahead I see two women and a Cockapoo looking at the Palace, I slow right down as the the dog was not on a lead. As I approached them, the stop to let me pass, so I speed up. In a flash the dog has run in front of me, I hit him full in the ribs and me attached to the light bike go flying through the air. It was like it all happened in slow motion, until I felt my shoulder landing and my head hitting the tarmac. I hear the women gasping; “Oh my God”, I am just laying there still attached to the bike and the two women are trying to pick me up. I say leave me, I want to be sure I have not broken my neck. They want to call an ambulance, I feel ok, I tell them I practice chiropractic. My shoulder and thigh are badly grazed, I can move my limbs, don’t feel any pain in neck and helmet absorbed most of the impact by the look of the dent in it. The dog was running around, I told the woman to stop worrying about me I was fine. but I could not understand how the dog could be uninjured and she should take him to a vet. I limped home, That evening I get a phone call. Is that Richard, I say yes, Were you in an accident on your bike today. I saw yes. She Had Gone through local Chiropractors on Google to find me to see if I was ok, which I thought was very nice, The vet said the dog was also fine, but the bike was not £400 of damage. I tell this story, because for years I never wore a helmet, I was careful I was not one of these lycra cyclists weaving in and out of the traffic. I never took risks on a bike. If the helmet did not safe my life it certainly saved me from a serious head injury and I would never ride a bike again without a helmet and I was an idiot for doing so for so many years.

I was bruised but nothing was broken or joint injured so I was able to continue training, I bought a wetsuit for the race and two weeks before I did a practice run of the entire distance 1,500 swim, 40 KM Cycle and 10 KM Run. The wet suit gives you extra buoyancy, I was flying along in the pool (discovered you cant do tumble turns in a wetsuit), cycled to Richmond Park and around three times and finished with the run. I was ready for the big day and knew I could complete the distance. I decided to wear the Lance Armstrong shirt that I had worn on the Great Wall in 2013 and to be fair he was my inspiration for getting fit again and putting cancer behind me.

At Dorney Lake ( The Sports grounds of Eaton College) you sign in and pick a station, where you park your bike, running gear, drinks and eats. The fast guys are almost on top of each other near the exits, I chose a spot far from everyone. I could easily see a situation where I could not find my bike in the chaos, I needn’t have worried, as I was be one of the last coming out of the water, most of the the bikes had left when I got to my bike.

I put on my wet suit, then we are called to the water. The sun was shining, this was the first race post covid and we went into the water one at a time, I went in last as I did not want to be getting hit with arms, I was swimming with the over 50s and no one looked over 60 I thought. There were a few but no one over 65. I get into the water and get into a nice swimming rhythm, heading for a big orange buoy in the distance. Then I feel something hard poking me. It was one of the life guards in a canoe. Where are you going he says? In a pool you follow the line underneath you and swim in a straight line, in open water swimming there is nothing to guide you and I had veered so much off course I was almost turning back, in fact my watch later showed I swam over 200M more than I needed to that day. Another problem my pink swim hat kept slipping off my head, its not easy to put a hat on and swim at the same time but I got there in the end.

It is surprisingly difficult to take off a wet suit when your arms are tired, but I managed after a few minutes of struggle. Then I drank about a half a litre of fluid before going on the bike. It is important to keep hydrated during long endurance events, but when you do it like I did, 10K into the cycle I am bursting for a piss which is not ideal. I find a suitable bush and relieve myself, I felt wonderful and ready to push on and it starts to rain. The course is relatively flat, but there are a number of sharp bends and there were stewards out where there had already been a crash. All my cycle training had been in perfect summer weather and my only concern on the bike had been a puncture, but now I was worried about crashing and slowed right down. I was soaking wet and started to get cold but lacked the confidence to cycle much faster. I finished the cycle without incidence, but when I got back to my station my shoes were full of water. The sun was shining when I started the bike ride and had left them out and open ready to put on. I empty the water out of them, put them on, with a double knot ( you don’t want laces coming undone during the race, 400M out I am feeling pain in my little toe. I thought it would go away, but it got worse. I had a stone in my shoe. Now I had a problem, my legs were tired from the cycle and I thought if I sit on the road to change my shoes I would not be able to get up again. Still standing I manage to get the shoe off, find the little stone that was in the show, undue the laces, put the show back on and tie the lace again. This time I chose a single knot and started running, I was so pleased with myself having managed this great balancing act, I just kept going until the finish, It took me 3 hours 47 minutes. A lady was there presenting medals. As she approached me, I saw Isabelle waiting at the exit and I started crying, the woman asks if I was all right and needed medical help. I told her I was fine It was just the emotions surrounding the cancer, she decided then to present me with three medals and I went out of the tent and gave Isabelle a big hug.

I felt surprisingly good afterwards. I have a lot of arthritis in my right knee, having ruptured the ACL ligament three times and did not have it reconstructed a third time in 2003. Swimming and cycling are non weightbearing so its only the running stressing the knee and I ice. if it swells up. Immediately I knew this was the sport for me and repeated the triathlon in 2024 and it took me three hours seventeen minutes, I am aiming for three hours in 2025.

For this triathlon I wore a shirt in support of the Palestinians and it felt good hearing people, shouting “Go on Palestine”. Many people are concerned about showing support for the Palestinians for fear of being called an antisemite. I am from a generation that’s was only hurt by “sticks and stones”, and Zionist Colonialists can call me what they like. It rained again this year but the expedience from 2023 helped and I was much better prepared.

.

One comment

Comments are closed.